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Town in Lancashire, England

Nelson is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England, it had a population of 29,135 in the 2011 Census. Nelson is 3 mile (5 km) north of Burnley and 2 mile (3 km) south west of Colne. Nelson developed as a mill town during the Industrial Revolution.

An Iron Age hillfort called Castercliff is on a hill to the east of the town. The modern town spans the two parts of the township of Marsden in the ancient parish of Whalley. Little Marsden was on the south west of Walverden Water, its lands considered part of the manor of Ightenhill and Great Marsden to the north east, part of the manor of Colne. Great Marsden included the southern parts of Colne,efn|name=Colne Water|Colne Water formed the border between Great Marsden and Colne townships. and they started Lomeshaye Mill as a water powered spinning mill in 1780. The coming of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal in 1796, followed by the East Lancashire Railway Line in 1849, spurred its development as an industrial town, with an economy based mainly upon cotton weaving. The first Ordnance Survey map of the area, published in 1848, shows three small villages: Marsden (around St Paul's), and Hebson and Bradley, both on Walverden Water in the modern day centre of town. Also apparent are the estates of Marsden Hall to the east and Carr Hall across Pendle Water to the north west,

There was a worsted mill at Lomeshaye close to a "cotton factory" and another cotton mill along the canal at Reedyford by 1848. and it was soon followed by others. From 1862, Phoenix Foundry, the steam engine factory of William Roberts, stood at the site of the shopping centre's car park, and has been called "Nelson's most significant engineering site". By 1891, there were 57 cotton spinners and manufacturers listed in Nelson. The largest had 1,950 looms and the smallest only 8. The cotton industry was the most important in the town, and by 1910, more than 12,000 local workers were members of the Nelson and District Power Loom Weavers' Association. Nelson is considered part of the Burnley Coalfield. There is evidence of old bell pits and surface mining at Swinden Clough and Castercliff, Radical left wing politics in the early 20th century led to it being labelled "Little Moscow" by both the local and national press; indeed, the Nelson Leader ran the headline "Moscow calling" during the lock out of 1928. There was significant Communist Party influence in the town between the wars. When the Labour Party came to power in the town, they responded to local political feeling by placing utilities such as gas and water under the control of the municipal council, anticipating by decades the nationalisation of such utilities after World War II. The council refused, moreover, to participate in celebrations for King George V's silver jubilee in 1935, saying that they would rather spend public money on free dinners for school children and the jobless. Under the Local Government Act 1972, the town became part of the non metropolitan district of Pendle on 1 April 1974. Initially forming part of an unparished area, a new Nelson civil parish was formed in 2008, covering a similar area to the old municipal borough. It currently has three tiers of local government, Lancashire County Council, Pendle Borough Council and a town council, with 24 councillors, which was elected for the first time on 1 May 2008. Nelson Town Council and the wider Pendle Borough Council are situated at Nelson Town Hall on Market Square. After boundary changes in 2020 which reduced the number of wards in the borough to 12, four cover parts of Nelson parish – Bradley, Brierfield East & Clover Hill, Marsden & Southfield and Whitefield & Walverden. Pendle Borough Council is currently under 'No Overall Control' and governed by a coalition of independents and Liberal Democrats, led by Councillor Mohammed Iqbal. The mayor is a ceremonial post, rotated annually. Lancashire County Council was governed from 1994 to 2009 by Labour, at which point it switched to Conservative control, then to no overall control in 2013, and back to Conservative in 2017. The town is represented on the council in three divisions: Brierfield & Nelson North, Nelson South, and Pendle Central. The Member of Parliament for Pendle, the constituency into which the town falls, is Andrew Stephenson (Conservative), who was first elected in 2010.

Nelson is served by Junction 13 of the M65 motorway, which runs west to Burnley, Accrington, Blackburn and Preston, and north east to Colne. From the town centre, the A56 runs southwest to the M65 at Brierfield and north east to Colne and beyond, while the A682 – Britain's most dangerous road – heads north into the Yorkshire Dales. In November 1969, a multi storey car park with space for 350 cars was opened in Nelson. The car park was demolished in 2019 to make way for a McDonalds. In December 2008, the town's new bus and rail interchange was opened at a site which used the existing railway station. The new interchange facility cost £4.5 million and included enhancements such as cycle stands, taxi and car drop off facilities, electronic information displays, a direct link to the railway station including a passenger lift and an enclosed passenger concourse with 10 bus stands. Rail services to and from Nelson are provided by Northern. The Interchange has an hourly stopping service 7 days a week west to Blackpool South via Blackburn and Preston, and east to Colne. The main bus operator in Nelson is Burnley Bus Company, although Tyrer Bus, Boomerang and Holmeswood operate some services. National Express operates one coach service to London Victoria Coach Station each day from the Interchange. The town has good bus links into Burnley with peak hour services on to Manchester: X43 Witch Way service (operated by Burnley Bus Company) runs from Burnley and Rawtenstall to Manchester city centre, using a fleet of specially branded double decker buses with leather seats and WiFi. Some early morning X43 journeys to/from Manchester start and end at Nelson instead of Burnley.

Nelson F. C. were Football League members from 1921 until 1931 and played in the lower semi professional leagues until resigning from the North West Counties League in 2010 (returning in 2011). Nelson F. C were the first English team to beat Real Madrid in Spain, in 1923.

Nelson Cricket Club was established in 1861 and was a founding member of the Lancashire League in 1892. Nelson Cricket club has a significant success record, with 21 Lancashire League championship titles to its name. During the inter war period, when the club enjoyed the services of Learie Constantine, the West Indian cricketer; when in 1969 Constantine became the first person of African descent to be given a life peerage, he chose to be gazetted as Baron Constantine, of Maraval in Trinidad and Tobago and of Nelson in the County Palatine of Lancaster. Nelson field three senior teams in the Lancashire League

Speedway racing was staged at Seedhill Stadium from 1967 to 1970. The Nelson Admirals were founder members of the British League Division Two. The team later moved embloc to Odsal Stadium, Bradford. The track was also used for stock car racing.

The town also has two golf clubs. Marsdon Park Golf Club on Townhouse Road in an 18 hole municipal, par 70 parkland golf course that opened in 1968. Nelson Golf Club, founded in 1902, is private club with an 18 hole moorland golf course in Kings Causeway.

Nelson Wrestling Club is affiliated the British Wrestling Association.

The town is home to several parks the most notable of which are Victoria Park and Marsden Park. The Heritage Trust for the North West have numerous campaigns and projects in the area. One has resulted in the restoration and conservation of a whole street of Victorian workers housing, a former primary school and cotton mill, as it was feared that the industrial heritage of the town was at risk. St Mary's Church is also another major project in the town, which is planned to open as an exhibition centre in Summer 2012.

Nelson along with the neighbouring town of Colne are mentioned in the 1991 song It's Grim Up North by the band KLF. Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC North West and ITV Granada. Television signals are received from the Winter Hill TV transmitter and the local relay TV transmitter located in the Forest of Pendle. Local radio for Nelson is currently provided by Capital Manchester and Lancashire formerly 2BR and BBC Radio Lancashire, and – since September 2007 – by community radio service Pendle Community Radio, aimed primarily at the local Asian community. There are two local newspapers: the Nelson Leader, published on Fridays, and the daily Lancashire Telegraph, which publishes a local edition for Burnley and Pendle.